The lad mag's February issue says the town is better than, gulp, Portland.

Maxim toasts Philly's beer scene

Mike "Scoats" Scotese tapping a firkin, or small keg, of Iron Hill Bourbon Porter on Friday the 13th last year. Suds soaked keggers like it and "Philly Beer Week" have made the city the nation's new beer capitol, according to Maxim magazine. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)

Michael Klein, Philly.com

Posted:
Sunday, January 17, 2010, 1:04 PM

Maxim mag, which you read for the articles anyway, drops this bombshell in February's issue in a spread about beer:

"Sure, Portland, Oregon, still produces great suds (Widmer, Hopworks) — and, yes, you P-town natives are so cool because you all can telemark ski — but the crown of Best Beer Town has been swiped from you guys and smuggled back east to the scrappy and beer-soaked City of Brotherly Love."

The story gives a shout-out to Philly Beer Week and provides a history lesson ("The Constitution was hatched while dudes in wigs knocked back beer in Philadelphia taverns. Ben Franklin says so: 'Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.'”).

Singled out for praise were Victory Brewing's Helios Ale, Dogfish Head's Indian Brown, Sly Fox's Phoenix Pale Ale, and Intercourse's Blue Ball. OK, so they're not in the city proper, but still...